Kazarian Reveals Why He Left WWE, Speaks on His TNA Run

Yesterday on the Between The Ropes show, Brian Fritz spoke with TNA star Kazarian as we talked about this Sunday’s Slammiversary PPV, being involved in the top storyline in the company, being in the wrestling business now for 14 years, the pressure he puts on himself and his matches, the future of TNA, cutting off his hair earlier this year and the reaction to it by some fans, if he was ever asked or pressured to cut his hair while with WWE and more.

On what is special about his current run in TNA including teaming with Christopher Daniels:

I think right now, the company as a whole, you have a guy like Bobby Roode, who is one of us on top. When I say one of us, I mean a guy who is a TNA original along with guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and myself who have helped build the company. And teaming up with a guy like Christopher Daniels who I've literally known for 14 years of my life so that leads to real good chemistry there and our wrestling styles compliment each other. So, it's real cool right now when you look at the whole scope of TNA and you see the guys who have busted their butts since day one here, to see guys like that on top and pull this company into the next level is pretty awesome.

On being involved in the top storyline right now which involves his boss Dixie Carter:

It's a unique situation. It's pretty cool for Chris Daniels and I to be a)tag-team champions and b) in this unique situation with Dixie Carter of all people. I don't think anyone say that coming. I think it's something very different and it's something I've gotten a lot of feedback on both positive and negative.

On the reaction he got earlier this year from some fans when he cut his hair considering the talk was he refused to do that while with WWE:

Well, if people still think that's the reason I left, they can think that. It isn't the reason I left. I knew that was coming. I absolutely knew that was coming.

Wrestling fans don't forget anything.

No you don't and at the end of the day, I had people going 'I can't believe, how dare you do that'. And I'm like 'listen fellas' , especially dudes, I can't believe how many dudes were twittering me. At the end of the day, it's just a haircut. It's something I wanted to do. I donated it to Locks of Love while was also something I wanted to do and just change the look up and keep it fresh.

On whether or not he was ever asked or pressured into getting a haircut with WWE:

It was something that was discussed but it was one of those things that wasn't a pivotal reason. I probably at the time wasn't mature enough to be there. I don't know what my expectations were but I probably wasn't ready on a maturity level to handle it there. And that's all on me. That's absolutely all on me. If I was there a few years later things might have been different. I had a lot of other stuff going on that opted me to want to say no, I don't think I like it here.